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As part of the campaign I'm running soon, each race is going to have innate spellcasting abilities. Other racial traits / bonuses will exist, but I'm hoping to balance those in isolation from this. I'm aware that there are examples for this, but as far as I can tell, they are all single-use per long rest, which doesn't really scream "innate magical power" to me.

Each race would have a moderate spell list, but still much smaller than a true caster list. Current plan is to have a race-assigned casting stat, rather than a single shared statistic.

My plan is to have them gain spell slots like Warlocks, that also recharge on short rest, that can be used to cast spells from the race list. Other spell slots could be used to cast the spells known, but the slots themselves could not be used to cast spells not on the list.

In general, is this balanced, and if not, what tweaks might make the general concept work?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Is this in addition to standard race stuff or is this replacing racial stuff entirely? Also are the spell lists going to be the same for each race? \$\endgroup\$
    – SeriousBri
    Commented Sep 1 at 19:32
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    \$\begingroup\$ What about Warlocks? Do they gain those in addition to the class slots or not? \$\endgroup\$
    – Trish
    Commented Sep 1 at 22:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ @SeriousBri, this would replace standard race stuff. They also get other abilities, which should be balanced against each other. \$\endgroup\$
    – Levanthalas
    Commented Sep 2 at 21:45
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Trish Warlocks would still get these slots (everyone does), but just like for everyone else, they couldn't be used to cast spells other than the granted ones. \$\endgroup\$
    – Levanthalas
    Commented Sep 2 at 21:47
  • \$\begingroup\$ Also @SeriousBri, the list will not be the same for each race. They'll be thematically appropriate, to the race and in-world lore. \$\endgroup\$
    – Levanthalas
    Commented Sep 2 at 21:57

2 Answers 2

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Balanced against the world

Sure.

The main balancing mechanism is the number of actions you have, not what you can do with them. If you choose to use a racial spell, you aren’t doing something else so this has effectively zero balance effect.

Using a warlock like mechanic keeps the racial spells relatively useful at higher levels. Normally, they are used often at low levels but become increasingly irrelevant at higher levels. Both are fine because that’s not the limiting factor.

Balanced against each other

If everyone is special, then no one is

Giving the same ability to every character does not change the power balance between characters.

However, …

You’re asking the wrong question

What the racial spells are is far more important than the mechanism to limit their use. Some spells are “oh, that’s nice” while others are “this is totally awesome, I am never going to use anything else”.

You need to be careful when putting the lists together.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ For the last section - spells that does not benefit from upcasting would be especially disappointing. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mołot
    Commented Sep 2 at 9:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Mołot I just want shield \$\endgroup\$
    – SeriousBri
    Commented Sep 2 at 10:13
  • \$\begingroup\$ @SeriousBri shield is one of those “this is totally awesome” ones. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dale M
    Commented Sep 2 at 10:20
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    \$\begingroup\$ @DaleM The goal would be to have them all be of similar power, and have an emphasis on uniqueness and utility. Thanks for pointing out frequency of use as a measurement point, I was mostly thinking in terms of on a per-cast basis, so that'll help. I'll probably post another question when I nail down a draft of the spell lists, and get input on their balance. \$\endgroup\$
    – Levanthalas
    Commented Sep 2 at 21:50
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Mołot Getting to upcast things was one of the reasons I liked warlock slots as a mechanism, over just "X times per short rest," but definitely something important to keep in mind. \$\endgroup\$
    – Levanthalas
    Commented Sep 2 at 21:52
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Be careful giving your characters extra actual spell slots

Many classes can use spell slots for things other than casting spells. For instance, the paladin's smite, and the sorcerer's ability to trade them for sorcery points. Giving all your players spell slots that replenish on a short rest would allow some classes (and not others) with a lot more options and powers that they wouldn't otherwise have. And this, by definition, is unbalanced.

A better way is to just say that they can cast spells from their list a number of times per short or long rest, without using a spell slot.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Ooh. I do see the concern there. I was attempting to sidestep the big concerns about things like that with the "can't be used to cast spells not on the list." X times per rest still doesn't allow for upcasting bonuses, unless I make a whole other chart. What if it said, "These spell slots may not be used other than to cast the listed spells"? I think that would prevent them interacting with those features, right? \$\endgroup\$
    – Levanthalas
    Commented Sep 4 at 13:11
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Levanthalas is there a specific reason it needs to be via a spell slot? Can you simply state that, "<insert spell here> can be cast once per short rest," and be done from there. Then you have the use of the spell recharging on short rests without the additional complexity identified here with slots being used by Paladins for additional smites. \$\endgroup\$
    – Pyrotechnical
    Commented Sep 4 at 13:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Levanthalas can't be used. But can they be converted? Sacrificed? Expended? You would be opening a whole new can of purple worms with this wording. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mołot
    Commented Sep 4 at 17:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Levanthalas If you want the functionality you're talking about, I think you'd be better off including language like "Treat spells cast this way as if they were cast using a spell slot of the level indicated on the table below" or other words to that effect. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mathaddict
    Commented Sep 4 at 18:08

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